


Nuthouse

by alwaysafan24



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Amputation, Body Horror, Dark, Dark Past, Dead People, Doctor/Patient, Family Issues, Female Anti-Hero, Gen, Hallucinations, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-16 02:12:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13626393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysafan24/pseuds/alwaysafan24
Summary: Helen's been forced by her sister Karen to finally start pulling her own weight and that means getting a job. Helen wasn't looking forward to being the cleaner to the local nuthouse, but she needs to pay rent, especially since her sister refuses to anymore. What she didn't realise was what kind of patients were being housed in the hospital and just how dangerous it can be when you get too close to one for comfort.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on the site. Not exactly sure where I'm going with this story so tags will be added as I go along. I will add trigger warnings to any chapter I deem to be dark which may be many as I'm intending this story to get very disturbing. I would love any reviews, constructive or otherwise as this really helps me decide where the story needs to go. I hope you enjoy.

“So…how exactly did you find this job?”

Helen had been waiting for this question since she arrived. She was surprised no one had asked earlier, but half the people in this place were too unhinged to ask the question and the other half were too stressed taking care of the unhinged to ask, so she was hoping that she could just skim by without the question being brought up. She guessed she better reply, lest be thought of as rude. 

“Article in the local newspaper, small paragraph. Many wouldn’t have noticed it”

The lady leading her to her new work station just hummed, seeming content for now with the lazy answer Helen provided. After around 5 more minutes of silent walking, the lady came to a stop behind a small maroon door with frosted glass.

“Well, this is where all the cleaners come at night to get changed, put away their belongings and collect the cleaning supplies. You’ll be provided with a set of keys to open the door. The door must be kept locked at all times, we don’t need no loony patient running in and finding bleach to burn themselves with or others”

The way she said it, made Helen think something similar had happened before, but she was too scared to bring it up. Just why did she think it would be a good idea to take a crappy cleaner’s job at the local nuthouse?

She wasn’t telling the whole truth when she told the lady she saw an ad in the newspaper for the job. More like her sister, Karen, found the ad and decided her brainless, good-for-nothing older sister would love a job where she had to clean demented people’s toilets. Helen did really need the job though, especially if she was going the pay her rent next month, since her sister decided not to fund her anymore. Helen knew it was her sister’s husband, James, who influenced her into thinking it. James was a classy guy, hotshot lawyer or something to that affect. He never did like Helen since he set his eyes on her, thought she wasn’t good enough to hang around with her sister. If only James knew how close Helen and Karen were since childhood. They were all the ever needed up until the age of eighteen, until James decided to step into the picture and snatch her sister up like a piece of meat.

“What do you think?”

Helen forgot the image of bashing James’s head in and realised they’d already entered the cleaner’s staff room and the lady was showing the sets of lockers to put their stuff away.

“Looks great, when can I start?”

The lady looked shocked by Helen’s enthusiasm, as if other people didn’t relish the thought of spending their night cleaning with crazy murderers all around them.

“How about tomorrow night? We’ve already got two covering the night shift tonight, but we can put you on with a more experienced worker tomorrow to show you the ropes”

“Sounds fantastic”.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter get a little darker and I start bringing the hallucination/horror elements in, so if things like blood and amputated limbs freak you out, I would leave right now.

I wish they’d at least cover my eyes before they started wheeling me around in my bed at all hours. The rows of light above burned my eyes and made me wish I had use of my hands to rub them back into comfort, or at least smack the hell out of the nurse who decided 2am was the time for my therapy. 

They must have thought it perfectly reasonable to move the paralysed guy out of his perfectly comfortable dark cell into the harsh, oppressing light of the hallway. Not like he can say anything about it anyway?

They talk around me and laugh about their daily struggles and mishaps, believing I can’t hear or understand. I always hear but ever rarely understand. How can I understand some bitch nurse who complains about her awful other half? I can’t fucking move! They should be lucky they don’t need a tube up their urethra to pee into to. 

The two guys moving me around are chatting about the football game the other night. Makes me nostalgic. It’s been so long since I watched sports or any form of entertainment. Not that football was ever really my favourite form of entertainment. Mine were always more niche. Seeing the players get hurt or damaged always did put a spring into my step though. 

“What do you think the Doc has planned for him tonight?”

Him being I. Not like I don’t have a fucking name.

“Not sure, honestly, I don’t want to know, the Doc always gave me the creeps and so does this guy. Having them both in the same room together must be like a nightmare show”

You have no idea my friend. 

As their conversation turns into idle silence I begin recognising my surroundings, especially the black, aluminium door ahead. Sweat springs up on my forehead and I feel a cold, sharp sting travel down my spine. 

These meetings with the Doc are getting harder and try as I might, I don’t know how much longer I can hold out before I lose my ever-loving will.  
……………………….  
Helen rarely slept well. Especially since her room was one plaster wall away from Karen’s. It had been 2 years since Helen had needed a place to stay and her sister agreed to letting her crash, telling her it could only be a short while. The years went by and Helen was no closer to moving out and now even contributed to household necessities – when she could.

James wasn’t fond of the cohabitation. He was rarely fond of anything involving Helen. It gave her a little sense of satisfaction knowing her presence regularly ruins his days.  
Doesn’t seem that her presence is wrecking anything tonight. She could hear Karen and James banging away like a pair of rabbits, making annoying whines and grunts. Helen understood they were a loving, married couple but couldn’t they give any consideration to her or her new job? She didn’t need a living porno occurring right next to her at 1am.  
Since sleep didn’t seem to be coming any closer to her, Helen decided the best way to get any rest was to move her quilt and pillow to the living room and hope no sounds were able to drift down the stairs. She carefully bundled up her bedding and creaked her door open, making her way into the dimly lit hall. Luckily, her bedroom was right next to the stairs, so no awkward tip-toeing was needed.

The only problem was getting from the stairs to the living room. The only problem was the dark. Ever since childhood, Helen found no comfort in dark rooms. Sleep didn’t come any easier for her, if her room was bathed in black. Darkness put her on edge and made everything seem twice as vicious as before. Nothing could be trusted in the dark, not when you can hide so easily. 

Why Helen thought nothing about this before deciding to leave her room with her perfectly lit table light, she’ll never know. Could she go back now? If Karen and James were done with their sexcapades, would she wake them up? This is what being near the dark did to her, made her all anxious and jumpy, waiting for something to attack. 

Just as she finally made her decision to make her way back to her room, she heard a small creak to her left. It was the smallest sound, something most people would just ignore or not even notice, but not Helen. She couldn’t help but notice. The sound sent ice to her heart and made her skin harden. The creak was coming from the bottom of the stairs.  
Helen didn’t want to look, everything in her body told her to keep her head to the right and run right back through her bedroom door. Then the creak came again, louder this time. It lasted longer and sounded like a creak you get when standing on an old plank of wood that couldn’t hold the weight. Like someone was coming up the stairs. When that realisation came, she peeked. 

The bottom of the stairs was covered in darkness, but as the stairs got higher more light opened from the small window behind her that rested at the top. This gave Helen the perfect vantage point to see what she saw. Four small tips of fingers were clenching the 7th step from the top. They were clenching on for dear life on that step. Helen felt the breath leave her mouth through her nose in one big huff, like the shock of it forced oxygen out of her. 

The fingers were pale white and the nails covered in dirt and cut short. They didn’t move an inch from the step, just kept clinging on. Helen wasn’t sure what to do. This couldn’t be real, could it? She had to be having a nightmare or at least tricking her mind into thinking she was seeing what she was seeing. No matter how long she stood there, the scene didn’t change. 

If she was having a nightmare, maybe going back to bed will wake her up? Helen wasn’t sure, but she was willing to do anything to move away from that step. Just as she was about to take one step forward, another sound hit her. A small groan rose up from the bottom of the steps. A woman’s groan. It sounded like she was in agony.  
A moment of silence, then another groan. And again. And again. They were getting louder and close together, like someone was working up a sweat. Helen had to look. None of this could be real, yet it was. 

As she moved her head to left and finally looked once more down the darkened steps, she wasn’t ready for what she saw.

A pale, shivering woman with long black hair was clinging onto the stairs and pulling herself upwards. Her hair lay in tangles on her head and obscured most of her face. Her arms were covered in dark bruises and red, weeping cuts. As she tried her hardest to pull herself up, the cuts on her arms kept opening and pushing out more congealed blood. As the woman got closer and more light hit her, Helen saw why it was so hard for the woman to pull herself up. 

She had no legs.

Her legs looked as if they had been crudely sawn off and in their wake left a mess of flapping skin and bleeding muscle. There was so much blood, more than Helen had ever been witness to. 

“He- me-“

The woman seemed to be trying to speak through her groans, but Helen couldn’t understand.

“Help me…”

The woman wanted help. But none of this was real? How could Helen help when this was all in her head? 

“Help me, help me, help me, HELP ME!”

The woman suddenly pushed upwards with his arms and flung herself right to the top, right at Helen. Her hair sprung out either side, showing her mangled face. Half of her face was missing, just bloody tissue and bone peeking out. Helen couldn’t help but scream at the fate that awaited her.

"What are you doing?"

A voice. Helen has heard that voice before. She opened her eyes to see herself standing at the top of the stairs and the woman nowhere in sight.

“I said, what are you doing Helen?”

Helen looked to her right to find James standing outside his bedroom door, arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

“James? Is that you?”

“Who else is it going to be? Why are you screaming anyway? You’ve probably woken the whole neighbourhood up”

“But…but-“

Helen looked down at the stairs again, but everything seemed normal. No woman was lying on them, bleeding half to death. 

“I’m going to get a drink and go back to bed and I think you should do the same”

Helen must have imagined all of it. Her mind was playing tricks on her again in the dark. It could never be trusted. 

As James made his way into the bathroom for a drink, Helen wandered back into her room and huddled under her covers. She wasn’t popping her head out again until the sun came up.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mainly a filler chapter but does get more into Helen's psyche and her relationship with her sister. The next chapter is where the story really takes off.

“Are you nervous?”

Helen definitely did not have enough energy for the beginning of this conversation. When Karen had offered to drive Helen to work this morning, Helen was hoping it would be a conversation-free ride. Oh, how wrong she was.

“Not really”  
Helen lay her head on the top of her seat belt, letting out an intense sigh, hoping it would deter Karen from any more small-talk. She saw her roll her eyes out the corner of her eye and focus on the front window. 

Helen remembers a time when things between her and Karen were never like this, when they could talk about everything and nothing and never feel awkward or bored of each other’s presence. As they got older and life changed, they drifted further apart. Anyone else would think this was a natural part of life, as you grow older you become more independent and don’t need your family always around. Helen wished she’d never grown up. 

“James told me about last night”

Looks like Helen was not successful in her pursuit of a silent ride.

“He told you what?”

Helen obviously knew what James had told her, she was shocked Karen hadn’t asked her earlier. James could never keep his big mouth shut about things that didn’t involve him, he just loved to gossip about his crazy sister-in-law. 

“He told me what happened last night, about you standing in the dark and screaming”

Of course, he had to say it like that, make it seem worse than it was. She just had a bad night, everyone has them. She still couldn’t explain what happened, but if she put it out of her mind, maybe it wouldn’t happen again.

“That’s what he told you? Trust me, it wasn’t that bad. I just had a bad night”

“Helen, even I heard the screaming, I’m sure people on the street heard the screaming. I just want to make sure you’re okay. Are you sure…. are you sure it’s not your problem again?”

Just as Karen was finishing her sentence, Helen noticed the large sign for Azure Heights Psychiatric Institution and she knew she could make her escape without answering Karen’s annoying questions and intrusions.

As the car pulled to a stop on the front road of the institution and Helen opened her car door, she turned back to Karen’s distressed expression.

“I’m fine Karen and this problem you think is coming back or whatever…it isn’t, so don’t worry, now I better get inside. Thanks for the ride”

Helen shoved herself out and slammed the door closed, letting out a tiny huff in frustration. As she began walking up the road towards the front gates, she began questioning herself.

A problem? I have no problems, what even is Karen going on about? It was just a bad dream or the dark messing with me again, no problem. I don’t have a problem.

But you do, don’t you?

No! Now shut up! Just shut up. I need to be calm for work.

Helen slowly cleared her mind and breathed in deep as she stood at the front gates, looking up at the huge monstrosity of a building she was now expected to clean. 

I hope today is a good day.  
……………………………………..  
Blue was not Helen’s colour no matter how hard she tried. This uniform was ugly and looked even worse on her thin, pale body. Why anyone thought a bright blue dress down to below the knees would be flattering, she’d never know. 

Earlier, after entering the front gates, she finally let the grandeur of Azure Heights Psychiatric institution take her in. It was a large, grey stone building with four floors and a soaring clock tower at the back which sat above the rest of the building. From the gates to the front doors was a long drive-way with a patch of grass in the middle with a small fountain. The front doors were a blood-red with stone stairs coming off and onto the drive. All in all, the building put Helen into awe.

Why she didn’t notice it the first time she came, she wasn’t sure.

After finding her way to the reception, she was handed over to the cleaner’s team leader, Jacqueline, who led her to the staff room she had been in the day earlier.   
Now, here she was, pulling her hair into a bun and messing with the skirt of her dress to make sure it didn’t budge up near her thighs. Today felt like it might be tiring.

“Not your style?”

Helen looked over from her locker to find Jacqueline standing against a locker-free wall, her arms-crossed and a brash smile on her face. 

“Not exactly, the uniform seems a bit much for a cleaner”

“You could say that again, the owners of this place like to make sure everyone looks professional and ‘ready for the work day ahead’, so to speak. Doesn’t matter how comfortable we are while lugging bins and dirty sheets around” 

Helen didn’t reply. Seems like Jacqueline wasn’t that fond of her job, which wasn’t shocking considering she looked like she might fall down half-dead any minute. When Helen was first handed over to her, she assumed for a moment she was a patient. She was hunched over and her hair lay in half-crazed curls on her head, going in every direction. She seemed quite old, with shallow tan skin and deep-set wrinkles on her neck and face. The colour blue didn’t suit her either. It amazed Helen that she could lug around large bins in her age and not get hurt. 

“Looks like they’ve placed you with me today for your first shift, so I could show you the ropes and what-not. Now, you better listen good cause I’ll only be saying this stuff once and then you’re on your own”

At the end of her mini speech, Jacqueline flounced out the door with a speed Helen didn’t know she was capable of. 

“Are you coming or not?” Jacqueline echoed down the hall and into the staff-room. 

“Coming!”  
………………………  
Jacqueline had them spending the first 2 hours emptying every bin in sight in the left wing of the institution. Black bins were for general rubbish and yellow bins were for used medical supplies and anything covered in blood or bodily fluids. Those had to be handled with care and be properly disposed of otherwise you’d be lucky if you still had a job, or so Jacqueline says. 

While traversing the left wing, Helen got a feel for what kind of patients were ending up at Azure Heights. Most seemed calm or non-reactive in anyway. They stood quietly around the halls or in their rooms, always within sight of a nurse of doctor. Overall it didn’t seem half as bad as Helen worried it’d be.

“The patients weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be” Helen said as they made their way back to the staff room to collect the mop bucket and cleaning supplies. 

“That’s cause those were the patients of the left wing, most of them are suffering with head trauma or depression. It’s the patients of the right wing you need to worry about, those fuckers don’t give a damn about anyone or anything, just causing mayhem”

“Sounds…horrible”

Jacqueline gave Helen a teasing look, knowing her reply had frightened her beyond relief.

“Don’t worry though, we don’t put newbies on the right wing, would give them too much trauma. We leave the right wing to people who know how to handle it”

Helen wasn’t sure why, but the answer almost offended her in some way. It’s not like she’s a child, she was sure she could handle it.

After collecting their supplies, they started mopping the front entrance of its dirty scuff marks and footprints, making sure that by the end of it they’d be able to see their reflection in it. Next, they needed to change the left wing’s first and second floors beds. Helen found most of the mattress sheets were either covered in dried blood or urine, usually caused by the patient sleeping on it. By the time they finished it had gone 2pm and Jacqueline allowed them a short 20-minute break. Jacqueline spent it smoking a cigarette while Helen ate a sandwich she bought from the reception’s vending machine. The rest of the day was spent on odd jobs and anything Jacqueline didn’t want to clean she left for Helen, which was a lot. By the end of her shift at 6, Helen felt like she might pass out and was ready to hop on her bus home. 

After they both collected their things and Jacqueline locked up the staff-room, they said their goodbyes in the reception.

“You did good today kid, didn’t completely freak out like I thought you would”

Jacqueline had an annoying habit of referring to Helen as kid, which Helen didn’t quite understand as she was twenty-five, but she guessed as people got older everyone became like a kid to them. 

“Thanks” Helen replied while buttoning up her jacket and watching a slight drizzle of rain begin to sprinkle through the front windows. Looks like it was going to be a wet walk to the bus stop. 

Just as Helen had prepared herself for the cold and began walking to the door, she heard a yell behind her.

“Jackie! Jackie! Don’t leave yet!”

Helen looked back to find Jacqueline had been stopped by a small, pale old man in green shirt and trousers. He was holding on desperately to the sleeve of Jacqueline’s coat.

“What is it Walter?”

Seems like Jacqueline knew the man in hysterics. 

“I need your help Jackie. There’s been an accident on the second floor of the right wing, a nurse was attacked and there’s a mess everywhere. We need it cleaned up before the other patients see it and begin losing it”

“Why can’t you do it? My shift’s over”

“I’m busy taking care of the nurse and making sure no patients find out. Please Jackie, just do this one things for me?”

Jacqueline sighed in deep and then her head turned to Helen, a resolute look on her face. 

Helen knew what she was asking and she couldn’t say no. It was her first day and she didn’t want to make a bad impression, but she also was not looking forward to entering the right wing either.

Helen just hoped she was brave enough to handle it.


End file.
